Ed Kok, Director General of host club the Automobile Association of South Africa (AASA), was instrumental in organising this year’s Conference Week. He said: “A Conference Week outside of Europe was definitely enlightening, refreshing and educational for many delegates.”

Indeed, delegates were able to take new ideas and best practice learned from their counterparts back home to their respective clubs. As well as hearing from a line up of high-level external speakers, representatives from clubs of different sizes offering a range of expertise were able to meet and network.

The first plenary session focussed on club roles in consumer testing in areas relating to motoring and tourism. Ed Kok commented that it is increasingly apparent that the very ethos and governance of auto clubs around the world are “being driven by the expectations of consumers”.

This was a theme which was taken through to the end of the conference with speakers covering issues such as club branding and the impact it has on consumers and the role that clubs can play in balancing the interests of governments and consumers.

The second plenary looked at communication, cooperation and development activities of key interest among all clubs. This session also focussed on the FIA’s communications strategy and how it can add value for all clubs in the member network.

Alongside a commission on marketing taking place on the penultimate day, the FIA Foundation’s International Policy Forum was dedicated to the Make Roads Safe campaign, which is calling for a UN Ministerial meeting to tackle the growing problem of road deaths. The Forum heard from keynote speaker Desmond Tutu as well as a range of experts from the UN, World Bank and the Commission for Global Road Safety.

It was the first time that Conference Week had been held in Africa and contributions during the sessions were made from clubs across Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Through months of preparation and careful planning the AASA made sure that the African region was well represented and that Conference Week was a success.

Ed Kok paid tribute to the hard work and dedication of his staff. He said that due to effective management of the AASA’s Public Affairs team, led by Petro Kruger, the club did not need to use the services of an external events coordinator but did all the work themselves. He also praised the decision to hold the event in Africa.

He said: “An interesting observation that arose out the working groups was that the situation in developing countries provided a new perspective to a number of the topics. This resulted in open and stimulating debate, right up to conference closing time on the Friday afternoon.”

He added that by the end of the week, he had a “strong sense” that people from all over the world “had worked together successfully during the week and also enjoyed the experience”.

Finally, it was announced that next year’s event will be held in Lucerne, Switzerland. For the AASA, and indeed all the clubs attending Conference Week 2007, it can’t come soon enough.